38 Facts About Freddie Francis

Frederick William Francis was an English cinematographer and film director whose filmmaking career spanned over 60 years, from the late 1930s until the late 2000s.

Freddie Francis became well known for his rich black-and-white CinemaScope framing, and was regarded as one of the top cameraman in the British film industry.

Freddie Francis made his directorial debut with the romantic comedy Two and Two Make Six, but gained the most attention for his horror films and thrillers.

Freddie Francis won his second Oscar for the American Civil War film Glory.

Freddie Francis earned acclaim for his work on Karel Reisz's The French Lieutenant's Woman, and Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear.

Freddie Francis left school at the age of 16, becoming an apprentice to photographer Louis Prothero.

Freddie Francis began his career in films at British International Pictures, then moved to British and Dominions.

In 1939, Freddie Francis joined the Army, where he would spend the next seven years.

Freddie Francis quickly became the regular cameraman of The Archers and their cinematographer, Christopher Challis.

Freddie Francis served as a cameraman on six of The Archers' productions: The Small Back Room, The Elusive Pimpernel, Gone to Earth, The Tales of Hoffmann, Twice Upon a Time, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Freddie Francis served as Challis' cameraman on two other films as well: Angels One Five and Affair in Monte Carlo.

Freddie Francis subsequently worked on such prestige British dramas such as Room at the Top, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Sons and Lovers, and The Innocents, which he regarded as one of the best films he shot.

Freddie Francis next collaborated with director Jack Clayton for the psychological drama film The Innocents starring Deborah Kerr.

Freddie Francis used colour filters and used the lighting rig to create darkness consuming everything at the edge of the frame.

Freddie Francis used deep focus and narrowly aimed the lighting towards the centre of the screen.

For many of the interior night scenes, Freddie Francis painted the sides of the lenses with black paint to allow for a more intense, "elegiac" focus, and used candles custom-made with four to five wicks twined together to produce more light.

On his apparent typecasting as a director of these types of film, Freddie Francis said "Horror films have liked me more than I have liked horror films".

Also in the mid-1960s, Freddie Francis began an association with Amicus Productions, a company that, like Hammer, specialised in horror pictures.

Freddie Francis did two films for the short-lived company Tyburn Films; these were The Ghoul and Legend of the Werewolf.

Freddie Francis was more than competent as a director, and his horror films possessed an undeniable visual flair.

Freddie Francis regretted that he was seldom able to move beyond genre material as a director.

Freddie Francis directed the little-seen Son of Dracula, starring Harry Nilsson in the title role and Ringo Starr as Merlin the Magician.

In 1985, Freddie Francis directed The Doctor and the Devils, based on the crimes of Burke and Hare.

Freddie Francis earned great acclaim for his black-and-white cinematography earning a British Academy Film Award nomination.

Freddie Francis gained a new-found industry and critical respect as a cinematographer.

Freddie Francis worked on films such as The Executioner's Song, Clara's Heart.

Freddie Francis thought it was a bad picture, owing to poor special effects, and had his name taken off it.

Freddie Francis's name was substituted by the name Ken Barnett.

Freddie Francis provided the cinematography for the critical favorite The Man in the Moon as well as Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear.

Freddie Francis' suggested that he earned the job working with Scorsese was a recommendation that came from director Michael Powell.

Freddie Francis again sought to utilize deep focus in order to keep the audience anxiously searching the frame for the psychopathic Max Cady played by Robert De Niro.

Freddie Francis spoke fondly of his working relationship with Scorsese saying,.

Freddie Francis' final feature film as a director of photography was a reunion with David Lynch the small intimate drama The Straight Story.

Freddie Francis received many industry awards, including, in 1997, an international achievement award from the American Society of Cinematographers, and in 2004, BAFTA's special achievement award.

Freddie Francis is featured in the book Conversations with Cinematographers by David A Ellis and published by American publisher Scarecrow Press.

Freddie Francis' photography favoured black-and-white, though he did work in colour for much of his latter career, and emphasized lighting and framing over colour schemes.

Freddie Francis married Gladys Dorrell in 1940, with whom he had a son; in 1963 he married Pamela Mann-Freddie Francis, with whom he had a daughter and a second son.

Freddie Francis died, aged 89, from the lingering effects of a stroke.